The Two Watch Collection The Seiko 5 And The Casio G-Shock ‘Tough Solar’

The Seiko 5 had already been out in the world for 20 years by the time the G-Shock was born, and between the two of them, these watches have over 80 years of collective history. They represent a range of human experience that no other two watches I can think of can conceivably match. And, in their way, each represents a certain kind of uncompromising purism. Together, they represent the apotheosis of watchmaking at scale.

Yet without something that watches at any price level often lack – a clear technical and design vision, and moreover, one that is pursued without compromise to those essential visions – neither would be what they are, and neither would be a complement to the other. It’s interesting that two watches that represent such single-mindedness both come, not from Switzerland, or Germany, but from Japan. We hope you’ve enjoyed the first installment of our new column, featuring two of the most popular and iconic timepieces of the post-World War II era. The G-Shock and the Seiko 5: two watches that, irrespective of price, are such classics of wristwatch engineering and design that they more than earn their place as our first pair of timepieces in The Two Watch Collection.

In this story: the Seiko 5 SNKL23 and the Casio G-Shock Tough Solar.

The Seiko 5 was the subject of one of our most popular stories: The $75 Watch That Looks Like A Million Bucks.

For a look at a very different G-Shock that shows just how far they’ve come, check out our coverage of a $6,000 G-Shock.